This is a Moro recipe – and another good reason for buying all three of their lovely books… Casa Moro is full of great ideas – and this recipe also works really well with beef (with smoked paprika and chilli rather than spices and pine nuts).
Boil your potatoes – make sure they are soft but not too wet – drain and cool before peeling and mashing. Mix 1 tbsp Plain Flour into the mixture (and a drop of water or oil if too dry) and you should have your dough!
While the potatoes are boiling – make the Lamb Mixture
Lamb is quite fatty so remove as much as possible before getting your butcher to mince it
Chop and gently fry the Onion in a little Olive Oil. when the onions are nearly done (ie soft and starting to brown), add the Cinnamon and the crushed Cloves and Cardamon Seeds and give it another 2 minutes or so
Add the Lamb and leave it to brown on the heat (don’t stir too often otherwise it won’t get that lovely brown crust that adds to the flavour). When it has had 10 minutes or so – add a tablespoon of Tomato Puree and 2 of water together with 50g of Pine Nuts and a handful of chopped Parsley. Stir and take off the heat to cool down
When you are ready to fry – make your patties by dividing the dough into 4 and squashing each pattie into a round about 1cm thick
Take each pattie, put a tablespoon of Lamb into the middle, and join all the edges up to make little potato parcels. Squash all the edges together, and patch up cracks or crevices with more potato dough! They should end up looking like discs of potato, but really thick and quite large ones!
Heat up 4mm of oil and cook each one for 5 mins or so on each side – or until there is a lovely brown crust on the side you are cooking (don’t move them around too often, otherwise they’ll break up). When one side is done, flip them over and leave again to let a crust form on the underside
Drain on kitchen paper – you can keep them warm in the oven while you finish frying them
Great with rocket salad – also with aubergine – and beans!